If you build it they will come...

Today was quite the day, up at 5AM with the rising sun to photograph Yoga at Tambor tropical. The photographs are for the hotel to advertise and market the Yoga program they offer. The opportunity to photograph something other then birds was unexpected and a fresh experience and it was very impressive, way to go guys! I'm glad I was only photographing, poses look pretty hard, although maybe someday i'll give it a try.

YOGA!

More Yoga!

Three Yoga...ers?

Sitting cow? Resting duck? Crouching chicken? I don't know but I like it!

After the shoot we got to work on the bird spa...I've never directed heavy machinery before...I guess this is the end result; five star accommodations for the birds!

Measuring it out...

Bringing in the blocks...

...and the heavy machinery!

I wasn't the only one wearing the white hat...

Burying the 100 meters of hose that will supply the water

 

We accidentally uncovered an iguanas nest. We carefully recollected the scattered eggs and covered them...I hope they hatch ok!

 

 

 

Creating the shape of the basin

Adding the vinyl liner that will hold the water

Filling it up with the bamboo spigot, Tico made!

Add some perches and voila!

It was a lot of fun seeing my design come to life. Everyone at Tambor tropical was great and contributed greatly with their input and ideas, your help is greatly appreciated.
Stay tuned as I report what shows up at the bird spa.
Cheers,
-Nick

Costa Rican Return

After a much easier travel experience to Costa Rica then the previous year, I find myself back in the remote town of Tambor. Apologies to all who were expecting blog posts over the summer, I wish I could have written about my experiences living aboard a small sailboat in St. Andrews but the time went by too fast and most friends and relatives were close enough to get a first hand anecdote.

This upcoming season in Costa Rica is an exciting one, during the off-season (Nov. – Dec.) I decided that I would come back to Costa Rica to focus full time on finding, studying and photographing birds. Why birds you ask? Well I can’t really answer that, I don’t really know why myself. Birds can be many things to many different people; for some they are the scourge that wake you up at 5am to find a garbage littered driveway, or a fresh patch of excrement on that new car. To some they may be small and non-descript or even carriers of some media-hyped pathogen. However, to a select few people birds are much more then that. Birds are living ambassadors of nature’s diversity that can offer a lifetime of discovery and adventure if only you slow down enough to be granted passage into their world. A world that can be found in your own backyard with a well stocked feeder, or along a wooded path that may someday lead you into the depths of a Costa Rican jungle…The truth is that you can find birds just about anywhere, if you go outside right now and take a look around I’ll bet you the first living thing you will see is a bird (not counting humans and their domestic counterparts). Seriously, try it! Birds are all around us, sharing in our experiences, hardships and history and we owe to them and ourselves to take the time to get to know them. Some people may have expected a more utilitarian answer, something…academic...and along the lines of “well, they are important indicators of ecosystem integrity” or even “they provide many important services to humans (eating pesky insects, pollinating trees, providing important models for our understanding of biological phenomenon, yak yak yak) But why does everything have to exist for our own benefit? Why does the conservation of our natural world rest firmly on the foundation that it must “do” something for us to be worth saving? Birds deserve to be here just as much as we do, and they have been here for much longer. I am not alone in this unexplained fondness for our feathered kin, as the estimated number of birders in North America lies somewhere between 20-30 million ranking birding just behind gardening as the favorite outdoor pastime. Ignore them and ignore the 20$ billion they spend annually in their quest for that checkmark next to a name in their guidebook. Anyway, all rants aside, I am very excited to be here once again and able to share my experiences with everyone back home. Their love and support make this adventure possible.

After my arrival I was quick to discuss some ideas with local contacts I made during my stay last winter. This led to some exciting meetings with the owner and manager of Tambor Tropical, a boutique hotel located under a towering grove of wind blown palm trees and just a stones throw away from one of the most beautiful (and undiscovered) beaches in Costa Rica. You can see their website by visiting this link…http://www.tambortropical.com/. They are very supportive and enthusiastic about some of my ideas. We have begun to set-up hummingbird feeders around the hotel grounds and the full-time woodworkers have started building four bird-feeding platforms that I designed to support the fruit we will be putting out every morning in hopes of attracting some photogenic (or rather hungry) members of tropical avifauna. Adding to the excitement is a more ambitious project; we have brought in a couple truckloads of cinder blocks to begin construction of a bird bath in the dry iguana laden field next to the resort. When I say “bird bath” it might bring to mind that little pedestal-style satellite dish looking thing in grandmas garden (no offence grandma), but this bath will be more like the bird equivalent of the swim up cocktail bar at your favorite all-inclusive. Built 3 feet off the ground and covering 50 sq. feet, the shallow pond will be fed by a small but constant supply of freshwater. Between the months of January and April the Northwestern part of Costa Rica is in the grips of the dry season, with little to no rain falling. To make matters worse, the 10 foot tides send two pulses of salt water up to a mile and half inland each day, making most of the lagoons unsuitable for drinking. Since all but the most specialized seabirds require a constant source of freshwater to keep their hyper-metabolic bodies from desiccating, it is my hopes that the water will attract birds like moths to a porch light.

As far as photography goes, I havn’t had a whole lot of time to shoot. However, I did manage to spend two evenings photographing the seabirds that are diving for the massive schools of sardines that have filled the bay once again. This common spectacle was made even more intense when huge fish exploded at the surface next to me. Trusting that these large splashes were but harmless Roosterfish (50-100lbs) and nothing more sinister, I tried to keep my eyes glued to the viewfinder. The birds were everywhere, even the fisherman were getting into the mood, although this is not quite what is meant by the term "birding"

All jokes aside (don't worry, the bird was OK) I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Magnificent frigate bird (female) looking for fish

Royal tern

The black vultures were attentive spectators of the event, waiting for the receding tide to leave some stranded sardines for the taking...

Black vultures

Black vulture

I wanted to try and capture the action of diving terns, frigates and pelicans from an extremely low angle. This meant bringing my camera to within inches of the water surface while watching for oncoming waves. The low angle is what gives that pleasing out-of focus background and foreground.

Diving pelicans

Royal tern emerging from successful dive, ticos in background (locals)

Magnificent frigate bird (female) snatches a fish from the surface

I also wanted to photograph the feeding sequence of a brown pelican after it emerged from a successful plunge into the water. These next three sequential photos show how after emerging from the water (photo 1) the pelican throws it's head back to flip the fish from it's  pouch to it's throat (photo 2) and then swallows (photo 3). Very cool to watch but it happens in about 1/500 of a second.

Brown pelican emerging from water after diving for a fish

Flipping the fish back into throat, you can see the fishes tail

Swallowing the fish and lifting off

Anyway. that's all for now. Tomorrow we continue work on the bird spa, pictures of that soon to come!
Cheers,
-Nick

A NOTE ABOUT THESE PHOTOS: If you want to use any of the photos for anything other then personal use please send me an email. The photos on the blog are resized to make the file smaller and are NOT suitable for printing. I’d be happy to provide you with a larger sized file suitable for such a purpose. Please do not upload any photos to facebook or e-mail my photos to anyone (just show them the blog :), If you want to use any of these photos as backgrounds for your desktop that is great! All I ask is that you follow these steps…after setting it as your background, right click anywhere on your desktop to access your background preferences and under “picture position” or something like that choose “center”. This will center the photograph and resize it to the intended size of 800 pixels wide or 700 pixels tall which I resize all my blog photos too. This presents the photo in a way that it is not all stretched out and digitally massacred (are you reading this Mom?). If you want one of my photos to fill your entire desktop without the borders around it just send me an e-mail and I can send you a larger image.

March 28th - April 6th

My experience in Costa Rica has come to a close and after a couple of busy travel days I now find myself at home in Canada. It was the hardest goodbye I have ever experienced, three months in Costa Rica had left me feeling as though I had family there, and no, I’m not just talking about the birds. 

I made the best of my last week in CR, getting up early to walk through the forest and along the beach.  With no tours during my last week I had a lot of free time. On one particular morning I went up into to the mountain to try one more time at photographing the long-tailed manakins and their strange dances. Although I heard many of these dances going on, I was unable to get very close. I did however manage to find myself in rather exciting situation…while walking down a narrow path I was suddenly attacked from above by a large animal. I turned and ran, unsure what beast descended upon me from the tree tops. Once safely back at the main road I stopped and listened. Whatever had driven me out was still making a lot of noise and I could not resist the temptation to find out what it was.  I slowly walked back into the thick forest, following the strange grunts and growls that led me to its exact location. I peered through the dense undergrowth to see a spectacular bird; the Great Curassow. A huge bird, about the same size as your christmas turkey. I was incredibly lucky to find this bird, to give you an idea of just how rare it is…people have lived in these mountains since childhood and never seen one. But why had it driven me off so aggressively? The broken eggshells at the foot of a small tree revealed what she was protecting; not only had I stumbled one of the rare birds of Costa Rica, I had also found it’s nest.

Great Currasow (female)

It was also on this day that I discovered something else. In the previous week I had spent some time trying to photograph hummingbirds outside the cabinas where I stayed. Hummingbird photography is extremely challenging, as they are the smallest and most agile birds on earth. Getting a picture of them at all would be next to impossible if it weren’t for one thing…hummingbirds are sugar addicts, and they can be tempted to any precise location by the sweet promise of nectar. The feeder I had hung was attracting a good number of hummers to my set-up, and I experimented with using high-speed flash to freeze hummingbirds in flight (kind of like bullet-time in the matrix).

Rufous-tailed hummingbird

However, I really wanted a photograph of a hummingbird feeding naturally. So I experimented with all the red flowers I could find, fixing them to a tree to see if the hummingbirds showed any interest, but to no avail.  It was here in the mountains that I found a small tree with red-flowers that was attracting a large number of hummingbirds, so I collected a few of these flowers and brought them back with me. I fixed it to the tree next to the feeder and didn't have to wait very long…

I have to admit that I have been holding back on you guys. Keeping perhaps the most exciting member of Costa Rican avifauna all to myself…Seeing as this will be my last Costa Rican post for a while, it is only fitting to finish with the best. Tambor is one of a very few areas in the world where you can still see the Scarlet Macaw in it’s natural habitat. The birds were extirpated from here (locally extinct) but later reestablished through a successful reintroduction program. Now, a few small groups of Macaws can be seen flying overhead, moving too and from their favorite feeding grounds. They add a truly tropical flavor to the Costa Rican landscape…

On that same day I found another fascinating bird tucked away in the mangroves of the estuary. The Anhinga is closely related to the cormorants we are familiar with here in Canada. It feeds on fish that it catches in a rather unique way; it cannot produce waterproofing oil seen in most other aquatic birds, so it’s feathers quickly become water logged, helping the anhinga to become neutrally buoyant and move swiftly under the water. It holds its neck in a kinked shape that springs forward to impale small fish. It is often seen with only its long neck protruding above the water, giving it the nickname “snakebird”

Anhinga

The question now is what to do with the blog…I have decided to continue writing and sharing some of my photography with anyone who is interested. However, this time I will be posting pictures of the incredible wildlife that is found just off our own “Rich Coast”.  I will be guiding kayak tours off of Deer Island this summer, as well as working as a marine biologist interpreter on the Quoddy Link whale watching boat. I will try to keep the blog up to date with the latest happenings of the bay of fundy and the coming and goings of the many spectacular animals that depend on it’s productivity for their survival. Minke whales, humpbacks, endangered right whales and the gigantic fin whales are common residents of our coastal ocean here in southern New Brunswick. Seals, porpoises, eagles and a myriad of other seabirds and sea creature make this area one, if not the most productive and ecologically important coastal zones of Canada. I urge you to come visit this summer, send me an e-mail and we can plan your adventure.

I spent a lot of time in Costa Rica thinking about the difference between a tropical country and a seasonal one like Canada, where four distinct seasons bring about every mix of elements imaginable. I often found myself asking…why do we do it? I began thinking about this more and more and spending time in the tropics helped to answer this question. I believe that it is the contrast between the seasons that makes up the true beauty of the north. The birds may seem to abandon us, the trees will shed their leaves and heavy snowfall will wrap our lives in a cold blanket. But every winter holds the promise of spring; that winter will loosen its icy grasp and the snow will melt away, leaving a fresh palette to be painted by the budding leaves and spring flowers. The birds will come to feast on the life emerging from every forest, lake and river. Serving as a reminder of the riches to be found in these places and urging us to go out and experience it. The seasons bring about a transformation that makes our lives more interesting, changes our activities and brings family closer together. They bring about exciting alterations in times when our lives may seem monotonous, and always gives us something fresh to look forward too. To stand tall as witnesses to this emergence of life is our reward for being the hardy Canadians that we are.

It was hard to leave Costa Rica, the beauty of the land and its people make for an experience never to forget. Thank-you to Bruce Smith, who took me under his wing and taught me what it means to be a guide; you were a great mentor and I am very excited for what the future holds. Carlos, Jeimy, Rosy, Mora and the rest of the folks at H and B; thank-you very much! I will look forward to my next stay with my new “tropical” family who greatly enriched my experience and to whom I am forever thankful. I will miss you all and look forward to our next adventure.  Until then, it is nice to breathe the cold air of the north once again…

Thank-you for all your support and kind words.
-Nick

March 16th to 27th

I finally had a brief encounter with a bird I have been searching for since I arrived here in Costa Rica. Until last evening I had only seen this bird as a distant figure silhouetted against a setting sun. While rounding a river bend down in the estuary it flew low over the water towards me, my camera settings were all out of whack, set for photographing small birds in the dim light of the forest undergrowth and I had only seconds to “shoot from the hip”. This is my long awaited “Espatula Rosada” or Roseate Spoonbill. The scientific name is Ajaja ajaja, pronounced “Ahaha ahaha”, proving that taxonomists do have a sense of humor. They must have been laughing at the beak...jerks.

Roseate Spoonbill, Ajaja ajaja

This species feeds in shallow fresh or coastal waters by swinging that spoon-shaped bill from side to side as it steadily walks through the water. It feeds on crustaceans, aquatic beetles and bugs, frogs and newts and very small fish. I am yet to find the spot where they feed, I am pretty sure that it’s far off the beaten path.

One of the most memorable moments of the last few weeks occurred during an evening tour up the Panica river. I was maneuvering my kayak underneath a tight passage through the branches of a sunken tree when something drew my eye. Not a foot from my kayak was the unmistakable scale pattern of a Boa constrictor, partially submerged under the water. Even more exciting, I could see that it was tightly coiled around a Basilisk lizard (known by some as the Jesus Christ lizard for it’s ability to run across the water). The Boa had grabbed the lizard, which was almost as big as it was, and was now attempting to asphyxiate it. The result of the initial struggle had left the two reptiles in an awkward position; the boa’s head was latched onto the lizard but submerged underwater, while the lizard was tightly coiled by the boa with it’s head out of the water and staring directly at me. It was almost like the lizard was asking for help, but I am not one to get between a boa constrictor and it’s dinner.

Boa constrictor constricting a basilisk lizard

It was an interesting situation...with the boa unable to breath, it would have to let go of the lizard to get it’s head above the surface. The Basilisk could breath, well, if it weren’t for the boa trying to squeeze the life out of it. Both reptiles found themselves in a similar situation; who could take the next breath? After a few minutes I could see the life starting to drain from the Basilisk, and suddenly it’s claws broke free from the log and it fell back into the water, unconscious. The coils of the snake relaxed, and the sleek, scaled head of the boa broke through the surface, it was over. It is rare to see a Boa constrictor in the wild, let alone to see one in such an epic struggle; a dramatic example of life at it’s most wild.

I hope everyone got to see the super moon last week. It sure lit up the bay here in Tambor. I went down to the beach and watched it rise through the clouds at the entrance of the bay.

Super moon, better than all the other moons. Making all the other moons jealous.

While exploring the Curu wildlife refuge I found a great spot to photograph Trogons. Trogons are quintessential neo-tropical birds that are fairly inactive, perching for long periods of time before taking flight to pluck fruit from trees. It is odd too watch them as they carefully select the ripest fruits. I set-up next to a dried up mangrove lagoon and hid underneath a palm tree. Once I was concealed, a group of trogons moved in. They remained perched on a nearby tree, swiveling their heads around 180 degrees, zeroing in on the particular fruit they desired before plucking it while hovering in mid-air. They would repeat this many times, even if the particular tree had hundreds of fruits on it. I didn’t understand why they didn’t just land on the fruit tree and begin eating to their hearts content. It must be a way of remaining concealed from potential predators. Here are a couple photos of a beautiful species; the Violaceous Trogon...

Violaceous trogon (female)

Violaceous trogon (male)

Trogons possess a combination of physical traits that have provided scientists with a particular dilemma in terms of determining their relationships with other birds. Many different bird groups have been suggested as their closest relatives including toucans, parrots and even owls. They have a particular toe arrangement is found in no other bird species, and may suggest that that they represent are very ancient group of birds and have no close relatives. Anyway, enough with this ornithological babble, although I do find it very interesting and maybe some of you do as well. I have seen 4 species of trogons so far; black-head trogon, violaceous trogon, elegant trogon and lastly, the unforgettable resplendent quetzal from the cloud forests of Monteverde.

A couple more from that day at Curu wildlife refuge...

Cattle egret

Black vulture

I found a group of birds feeding on a sandbar while walking down the river a few days ago... To get a better angle I tried climbing a tree but once halfway up I discovered that a hive of killer bees had already claimed this tree. They began to swarm and I made a controlled descent down the tree, although a witness (had their been one) would probably have claimed that I fell out of the tree. I ran as far as I could with the sound of the angry insect mob behind me. I could feel them in my hair and on my clothes... Luckily, I escaped without a single sting, although I removed a fair number of stingers that were embedded in my clothes and shoes. There was even a stinger stuck in the wristband of my watch, and you could see a small drop of venom at its base.

Killer bee stinger embedded in the wristband of my watch, note small drop of venom

Aside from that encounter things have been pretty laid-back during the last couple weeks. I have been wading through the murky water when the tide is low, mentally reassuring myself that I do not constitute the preferred diet of crocodilians.  I settle in under a rock edge with some resident iguanas that have become accustomed to my presence. I watch as the incoming tide brings in a fresh feed of fish that attracts some of the locals and makes for a great show.

Snowy egret

Yellow-headed carara

Green kingfisher (male)

Mangrove swallow

Tricolor heron

Great egret

There is a green heron that fishes amongst the rocks. Spend any amount of time with these birds and their intelligence and cunning becomes apparent immediately...

Green heron

Green heron

Green herons have been observed engaging in all kind of unique behaviour and even been seen doing something once thought unique to humans; using bait to catch fish...check it out by clicking on this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNTw7GH325U

Awesome video, someone needs to get that narrator his own nature show ASAP.

Please excuse the obnoxious ending.

Green heron

Here's a bird that you may recognize...ospreys come down to Costa Rica during the northern winter and like me, some will soon be making their way back to Canada. This one is carrying away a good-sized fish. They hold the fish head first so that they are more aerodynamic in flight.

You may have noticed a small signature in the lower corners of my images. Due to the increased traffic on the blog (from some unusual countries) I have had to add a small watermark to protect my images. I hope it doesn't draw from the aesthetic value too much and if anyone would like a watermark free image for their own use just let me know and I would be more than happy to send you one. Best wishes to everyone back home! Thanks for reading…going to end with this picture of a cloud forest hummingbird. Note the spiderweb on the bill, they use spider silk to construct their nests; super cool.

Green-crowned brilliant